Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
“Fortunately, that should deter them until I’m a little stronger, but they’ll come, Harlow. Things are going to heat up for them, even worse than they already have. I don’t want to make the situation worse for you, but I’ve monitored the senator since I first met you. He’s in deep trouble, and there is little doubt he’s guilty of several other charges that are about to be brought against him. Since it’s come out about the missing girl and he was indicated as a suspect, several women have come forward to say they were raped or had sex when they were underage because he threatened to deport them. Your mother has been complicit, and that can be proven as well.”
She stood and turned away from him, avoiding Falcon, who had remained in the room but stood against the opposite wall. Every single word Wilder uttered felt like a punch in the gut. Walking to the window, she stared out into her garden. The views from each room were spectacular. She was an avid gardener, and the buds on her flowers, trees and bushes were beginning to open, creating a stunning visual effect, one that usually brought her serenity but failed to do so now.
“They both know I don’t want them here, Wilder. I made it clear I would turn them away.” If that really happened, if her parents showed up and she turned them away, her father would make her look like the most ungrateful daughter on the planet. He would do everything in his power to ruin her reputation and destroy her relationship with the galleries displaying her photographs. He was mean and vindictive to his enemies, all the while smiling at them smugly.
“You know that won’t stop him when things get worse. He has a pattern, Harlow. He falls back on it whenever things get tough. He portrays himself as the quintessential family man. He needs you to do that. His beautiful daughter, the nurse who put herself through school. He’ll use you to dangle in front of his constituents, proving to them that his family is perfect and he would never hurt a woman when he has a daughter and wife he loves.”
That was exactly how her father would think. If Wilder was right and more charges were brought against the senator, he would fall back on his lifelong scheming tactics to show the world he was a family man and loved his wife and daughter. To him, that would mean no one would believe the allegations against him.
She pressed her forehead against the windowpane. When she sat on her porch and thought a storm was coming a couple of weeks earlier, she hadn’t known just how bad it was going to get in so short a time. Friends dying, her father and mother finally facing justice, death threats, and all playing out in front of the one man she actually had feelings for. Her emotions might be suppressed; she was smart enough to know nothing could ever come of a relationship with Wilder, but she still wanted to appear to be confident and composed.
“Babe, come back here.”
She heard Wilder pat the bed and glanced over her shoulder. Falcon was bent over, examining him. Listening to his heart, his lungs, going over his body meticulously. Wilder ignored him as if he weren’t there.
The command had been soft. Not an entreaty. Not a plea. A velvet command. He was well aware that when he used that tone, Harlow normally did as he said. This time, it wasn’t going to work. She felt totally humiliated. The worst was this was her home. She couldn’t retreat when it had been invaded with her consent. But she had the studio, and she could retreat to that part of the property. The studio was separate from the house and she could put up a do not disturb sign.
“Harlow.” Now there was a warning in his voice. “If you’re over there, I can’t comfort you.”
She spun around to glare at him. “I don’t need comfort. I need to be alone for a little while.”
He shook his head and indicated for Falcon to move back. “That’s the last thing you need. Have you ever heard the old quote, ‘no man is an island’? You try to be, but you have that soft spot that needs protecting.”
“If I do, it isn’t your business or Rainier’s.” She tacked on Rainier at the last minute so it wouldn’t seem as if she was singling him out. “I’ve been on my own a long time, Wilder. I appreciate your concern, but I’m just fine.”
He threw back the covers. “No, you’re not. The rest of the world might not see it, but I can, and I’m making it my business.”
“What are you doing?” Harlow was horrified. Wilder ignored Falcon’s warning and turned so he could drop both feet onto the floor. “You’re impossible.” She hissed it at him and glared at Falcon as she stormed across the room to put a restraining hand on Wilder’s chest. “What use are you if you can’t control your patient?” she asked.